Boeing CEO says Air Force One won't cost $4 billion


Two weeks after demanding the cancelation of Boeing's contract to build the next Air Force One, Donald Trump met with the company's CEO in Florida, who promised to get the cost of the plane down.
The Air Force has budgeted $2.7 million for the Air Force One program, but analysts believe that by the time the plane is finished in the mid-2020s, the cost will swell to $4 billion, The Washington Post reports. After Trump tweeted about the potential $4 billion price tag, Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg called him to smooth things over, and they met face to face Wednesday. "We're all focused on the same thing here, we're going to make sure that we give our war fighters the best capability in the world and that we do it in a way that is affordable for our taxpayers," Muilenburg told reporters. "And his business head set around that is excellent. It was a terrific conversation. Got a lot of respect for him. He's a good man. And he's doing the right thing."
Muilenburg didn't say if the cost would be $4 billion, but promised Boeing would "get it done for less than that, and we're committed to working together to make sure that happens. And I was able to give the president-elect my personal commitment on behalf of the Boeing Company."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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